Some say that Cubans live to eat. As with most generalizations this is an exaggeration and somewhat imprecise but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t contain some truth to it. Cubans love food and they spend a large part of their time and resources to acquire and process it. I’ve always had the impression that the average Cuban suffers from the anxiety to ensure enough food and that this has ended up making him or her eat more than what they really need.
Economic difficulties and product shortages in the markets may have conditioned that worry and it is quite common to hear the following phrase, especially among women who are almost always the ones in charge of the cooking: “Let me see what I’m going to invent tonight for supper.” That phrase encapsulates the entire process of buying, preparing and serving the evening meal that brings together the family around the table at about seven every evening.
The most basic Cuban menu includes rice along with either red or black beans. On occasion, they are prepared together in a recipe that possibly originated in Haiti known as “congrí” or “moros y cristianos,” depending on the type of beans used. This combination, acknowledged by food experts to have superb nutritional value, has sustained many Cubans through difficult times. A square meal must include a main course, which can take the form of a meat dish, like pork or poultry, eggs, croquettes, meat patties, or some processed foods like sausages or smoked pork. This gets accompanied by root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, yam, cassava, potatoes, squash, or green plantains, which can be boiled or fried. And of course, a salad is a must, which may include avocado, tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, green beans, carrots or beets. There should always be something for dessert given the sugar industry heritage of the country which still exerts a considerable influence on the Island’s customs. People eat a lot of those home-made concoctions that may include fruits in their own syrup, cakes, flans and puddings.
Other possible menus include composite rice dishes (very common for family get-togethers and on Sundays); the most important of these include Cuban paella (mixture of rice, meats and seafood), “arroz con pollo a la chorrera” (a moist rice dish with chicken), Chinese-style fried rice, and rice combined with all sorts of other ingredients, including pork, fish or vegetables. Soups are immensely popular and most of them are made from chicken broth. Another widely popular dish throughout the entire country is the “ajiaco,” a traditional Cuban stew that contains large chunks of pork, beef, chorizo and a medley of vegetables. The term “ajiaco” was used by ethnologist Fernando Ortiz to describe the mixture of religions and customs that make up the Cuban identity.
source : La Habana Magazine Jan 2016
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